China’s government has reportedly expanded its ban of iPhones to local government workers and state-owned companies, a day after it emerged central government employees were forbidden from bringing the devices to work. Several agencies had begun instructing employees not to bring iPhones to work and the ban was expected to be further extended, Bloomberg reported. Nikkei reported at least one state-owned company had told its employees that anyone working with trade secrets could not bring their iPhones, Apple Watches or AirPods into work from next month. The ban on the…
Tag: International trade
UK solar could be ‘dumping ground’ for products of Chinese forced labour, ministers warned
The UK risks becoming a dumping ground for the products of forced labour from Xinjiang province in China if it rejects reforms by members of the foreign affairs select committee with cross-party support, ministers have been warned. An amendment to the energy bill, due to be debated on Tuesday, would require solar energy companies to prove their supply chains are free of slave labour. The Xinjiang region is the source of 35-40% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, the key raw material in the solar photovoltaic supply chain. The amendment to…
Australia’s oversupply of wine tops 2.8bn bottles in wake of China trade dispute
Australia has an oversupply equivalent to more than 2.8bn bottles of wine – a little more than 100 bottles per person – after the trade dispute with China slashed exports to the biggest consumer of Australian wines. The excess wine is being stored in large steel vats in wineries across Australia, equating to 859 Olympic wine-filled swimming pools. The removal of Chinese tariffs on Australian barley has some grape growers optimistic that the five-year wine tariffs implemented in 2021 may be dropped early, but a new Rabobank report suggests even…
Anthony Albanese vows to press Xi Jinping to remove trade barriers on Australian wine, lobster and beef
Anthony Albanese has promised to stand up for Australian wine, lobster and beef exporters when he meets with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, as early as next month. The prime minister said in a speech on Monday night that recent progress was “the result of the deliberate, consistent and principled approach we have taken to stabilising the relationship”. While welcoming Beijing’s decision to scrap hefty tariffs on Australian barley, Albanese said he would press for other trade impediments to be removed. Albanese said the resumption of the barley trade between…
China agrees to scrap barley tariffs in easing of trade tensions with Australia
China has agreed to scrap its 80% tariffs on Australian barley, in a major win for Canberra’s push to ease trade barriers between the two countries. The tariffs were first imposed in 2020 at the height of tensions, and prompted a lengthy challenge by Australia through the World Trade Organization. In a notice on its website published on Friday, China’s commerce ministry announced that “in view of the changes in the market situation of barley in China” it was “no longer necessary to continue to impose anti-dumping duties and countervailing…
US-China talks set out the most modest aim: better communication
When Janet Yellen left Beijing on Sunday after four days of talks, the US treasury secretary in effect admitted that the delegation achieved its main objective simply by sitting down with top Chinese officials. After years of dangerous and deepening separation between the people running the world’s two biggest economies, they were finally back in a room together. At a brief press conference that was the only tangible outcome of the talks, Yellen listed her hopes for the future. They included something that a decade ago would have been taken…
Janet Yellen tells China the world is ‘big enough for both our countries to thrive’
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said a four-day trip to Beijing has put ties with China on a “surer footing” and paved the way for better communication between top officials who run the world’s two largest economies. This relatively modest outcome had been flagged by US officials and expected by analysts before Yellen arrived, and is a reflection of how fraught one of the world’s most critical relationships had become. “I expect that this trip will help build a resilient and productive channel of communication,” Yellen said at…
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen to visit China to build ‘healthy’ ties with Beijing
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will visit Beijing this week, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world’s top two economies deteriorated earlier this year. Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries “to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges”, said the Treasury Department in a statement on Sunday. Yellen’s planned trip from 6-9 July comes just weeks after secretary of state Antony Blinken met President Xi…
Coalition says Anthony Albanese should not go to China until trade sanctions are lifted
The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, says Anthony Albanese should not visit Beijing until all trade sanctions have been lifted. Birmingham, a former trade minister in the Coalition government, said Australia “deserves to have absolute clarity that these sanctions are going to be lifted and that clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing”. “Why? Because China is acting very clearly in breach of its commitments to Australia,” Birmingham told the ABC’s Insiders. “China is acting in breach of its commitments…
Sunak to urge G7 support for collective action against ‘economic coercion’
The UK and other G7 countries are planning collective action against Russia and China if they threaten trade boycotts for political reasons, announcing a new body to deal with “economic coercion”. Rishi Sunak will urge “bold and pragmatic collective action” against hostile states that stop trading with other countries when they disagree with their geopolitical decisions. He will cite Russia’s stranglehold on European gas supplies last year as a situation that could have been met with a collective response. Other examples include China’s punitive tariffs on Australian wine after Canberra…